Unclaimed Property

The state comptroller's office has released its semiannual listing of unclaimed property with the names of 13,000 individuals and businesses.The list appears today .Names on the list are reported by financial institutions and corporations, which are required to report unclaimed funds to the comptroller's office by Oct. 31.Insurance companies with unclaimed benefits must report them by April 30 each year.The unclaimed funds, amounting to millions of dollars, include bank accounts with no deposit or withdrawal activity in the past five years; unclaimed wages; contents of safe deposit boxes; unclaimed security deposits; and stocks and bonds.

Now where did that $8 billion go, anyway?That's the amount of unclaimed property sitting in state-administered repositories because individual Americans have simply lost sight of their valuables.They move, forget to give new addresses, overlook deposits or refunds and simply can't remember what precious items they have. In many of these cases, the individual dies and the heirs haven't a clue as to where many keepsakes and investments are stashed.After a set period in which holdings remain abandoned, typically three to five years as designated by each state's statutes, the state assumes ownership of unclaimed accounts.

Edwina Dike, come on down!Elizabeth C. Smith and Elsie A. Lee, come on down!The state comptroller's office has some very good news for all of you -- and for thousands of others joining a growing list of people with unclaimed money, stocks, jewelry or other property.Some people may be dead, others may have moved.There are businesses that went belly-up, lost track of accounts or had checks go astray.Even government agencies appear on the latest version of the unclaimed property list published twice a year by the state comptroller's office, and being distributed through newspapers across Maryland -- including today's editions of The Sun.Marvin Bond, spokesman for the comptroller, said the new list has about 21,000 names of people, businesses and agencies of all sorts with property that has gone unclaimed for five years -- bank accounts, stocks, the contents of safe-deposit boxes, insurance checks.

Now where did that $8 billion go, anyway?That's the amount of unclaimed property sitting in state-administered repositories because individual Americans have simply lost sight of their valuables.They move, forget to give new addresses, overlook deposits or refunds and simply can't remember what precious items they have. In many of these cases, the individual dies and the heirs haven't a clue as to where many keepsakes and investments are stashed.After a set period in which holdings remain abandoned, typically three to five years as designated by each state's statutes, the state assumes ownership of unclaimed accounts.

Lost fortunes could be found tomorrow at the Glen Burnie Mall.State officials will be demonstrating a computer that tracks unclaimed property and money, including forgotten bank accounts, security deposits and insurance benefits.State Comptroller Louis Goldstein said his office's computer records list more than 160,000 forgotten accounts, worth $60 million.The unclaimed property booth, to open at 10 a.m., is just one avenue Mr. Goldstein is taking to find the owners or their %J relatives.

Postcards and fliers that offer, for a fee, to help Marylanders find out if they are entitled to any unclaimed funds held by the state are selling information easily available for free.Maryland holds $60 million in unclaimed funds, part of the estimated $5 billion held by states and companies nationwide.Marvin Bond, spokesman for the state comptroller's office, said postcards that require a $10 call to a 900 number to get information first surfaced in the area in June.Fliers advertising information for between $10 and $17 began circulating in August, Bond said.

Confined to a prison cell and armed with nothing more than court records, a photocopy machine and a bottle of Wite-Out, Michael Wayne Carroll found a way to steal thousands of dollars.What's more, his victims dutifully wrote him checks -- and mailed them to the House of Correction in Jessup."This is the most ingenious scam -- and the most creative one -- that I've seen," prosecutor William C. Mulford II said yesterday after Carroll was sentenced to 10 more years in prison. "It involvedcourtdocuments.

The state Comptroller of the Treasury's office is advertising the names of 11,604 Marylanders in newspapers across the state to locate the rightful owners of unclaimed property and funds worth $5.7 million from banks, insurance companies or other businesses.An ad listing 163 people due unclaimed property totaling $18,105 is published in today's edition of The Howard County Sun. The ad also includes instructions for those who want to make a claim.The office has records of approximately 150,000 accounts worth more than $50 million.